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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26790613">Mandarins</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Venxvon/pseuds/Venxvon'>Venxvon</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Haikyuu!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Futakuchi Kenji is a Little Shit, I like to imagine that ennoshitas captaincy was literally insane in terms of team dynamics, M/M, Rated T for swears, being captain.... Hard...., ennoshita's doing his best, i know i already tagged it but please know enno is doing his best, next gen captains</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 06:21:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,361</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26790613</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Venxvon/pseuds/Venxvon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p><em>Oh my god,</em> Chikara thinks. <em>They're going to ban mandarins</em></p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ennoshita Chikara/Tanaka Ryuunosuke, Kyoutani Kentarou/Yahaba Shigeru</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>184</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chikara takes a deep breath. Everything was fine, nothing was wrong, and he had nothing to worry about. They had won their first match! He should be celebrating! He should be very very happy right now, ecstatic even, and probably also another word that expressed extreme happiness. So many happy words.</p><p>Instead he's been trying not to scowl as Seijoh plays on the court below him, while he peels his pre-game snack. </p><p>Really it wasn’t Seijoh’s fault that they were in the same bracket as Karasuno again, or that Johzenji was also in their bracket. While it was kind of Yahaba’s fault that he had woken Chikara up at four am, yelling unintelligibly about something he then promised to explain later, Chikara was trying not to hold it against him. He was tired now, unable to fall asleep after the call, but he would be kind.</p><p>But it definitely didn’t help that Futakuchi was making faces at him from across the gym. Probably trying to remind him that Dateko <em>didn’t </em>have Seijoh or Johzenji in their bracket, Chikara thinks bitterly. That not only did Karasuno have Seijoh and Johzenji, but they alsohad Kakugawa in their bracket again, and would most likely have to play them next. Futakuchi had been sending him texts about his future tournament matchups since they had been revealed, and Chikara could most definitely hold that against him.</p><p>He sighs, it was mean of him to assume that Futakuchi would do something like that just because he was winking and making stupid kissy faces at him. He was probably just over thinking things because he was stressed about their upcoming matches. Futakuchi was probably just being Futakuchi right now, as unfortunate as that was. He made a mental apology as he carefully put his mandarin peel in his lunch bag.</p><p>Across the gym Futakuchi winked again and held up his phone, shaking it as Chikara's own phone vibrates. He raises an eyebrow but checks it, finding a message notification from Futakuchi.</p><p><strong><span class="u"><b>Futakuchi (?) from Datekou</b></span></strong><strong><span class="u"><b>:</b></span></strong> Looks like Johzenji’s about to win their match :)</p><p><strong><span class="u"><b>Futakuchi (?) from Datekou:</b></span></strong> Ya know, Johzenji… and Terushima with his new and improved team that currently holds a vendetta against yours and are determined to beat you into the ground ;)))</p><p>Chikara wants his sigh back, <em>fuck</em> Futakuchi.</p><p>He shoots Futakuchi a scandalized look, he just winks back, obviously trying not to laugh his ass off. Damn it, Futakuchi <em>knew </em>he was worried about playing Johzenji, especially after Johzenji had beat them in straight sets during a practice match that Chikara tried not to think of too much. This was just rubbing salt in the wound.</p><p>He gestures at Futakuchi’s slightly shaking frame to Aone, silently asking him to do something about his menace of a captain. Aone looks at Futakuchi, who was now doubled over and openly giggling, then back toward Chikara and shrugged, going back to watching Seijoh play. Chikara would deny the deep sense of betrayal he feels after that to the end of his days. He didn’t know Aone all that well but really, where was his solidarity when he needed it. Before Chikara could run through all of his interactions with Aone and wonder where he had gone wrong, Tanaka leans over and tries to glimpse at his phone.</p><p>“Was that Futakuchi? What’d he send?”</p><p>“Nothing!” Chikara replies quickly, voice cracking as he turns his phone off.</p><p>He hadn’t told anyone on his team about the concerns he had about playing Johzenji, and he had no plans to let anyone find out now. He’d managed to keep this under wraps from everyone except the stupid captain group chat Daichi had put him in 6 months ago with nothing but a small ‘<em>I’m Sorry’</em> and ‘<em>You can’t leave it</em>’ as an explanation.</p><p>Chikara hadn’t understood why Daichi had been so apologetic until the first day Yahaba and Shirabu were online at the same time.</p><p>Still, like <em>hell </em>was anyone else finding out about his concerns. A small voice in his head, that sounded suspiciously like Narita, was scolding him about keeping his concerns bottled up, and the consequences of that. But this was different and Chikara wasn’t bottling it up, he was just conveniently leaving it as a topic of conversation for another time. For example, after they’d all graduated from University and weren’t playing volleyball anymore. So Narita could shut up. Ennoshita knew what he was doing.</p><p>He hears Narita sneeze from two seats over, and turns to look at Tanaka to avoid his suspicious gaze, holding his phone close.</p><p>“What?” Tanaka asks, trying to lean over and look at the phone, “Just show me what he sent it’s probably funny,” Tanaka’s voice had an odd quality to it, and his smile looked tight.</p><p>What was that all about?</p><p>Before he can ask why Tanaka was being weird another notification popped up on his phone.  </p><p><strong><span class="u"><b>Futakuchi (?) from Datekou:</b></span></strong> Why’s your baldy so mad lmao</p><p>Chikara rolls his eyes and starts responding, not noticing Tanaka leaning over to peak.</p><p><strong><span class="u"><b>Me</b></span></strong><strong><span class="u"><b>:</b></span></strong> Maybe he just hates you enough that even seeing your texts makes him angry</p><p><strong><span class="u"><b>Futakuchi (?) from Datekou:</b></span></strong> Flattery will get you nowhere</p><p><strong><span class="u"><b>Me:</b></span></strong> That was absolutely not a compliment</p><p><strong><span class="u"><b>Futakuchi (?) from Datekou:</b></span></strong> How does he even know I’m the one texting y</p><p><strong><span class="u"><b>Futakuchi (?) from Datekou:</b></span></strong> HAVE YOU STILL NOT CHANGED MY CONTACT NAME</p><p>Chikara couldn’t help but release a snort at that, peaking across the court to see Futakuchi’s angered expression.</p><p><strong><span class="u"><b>Futakuchi (?) from Datekou:</b></span></strong> Dude, I thought we had something</p><p><strong><span class="u"><b>Futakuchi (?) from Datekou:</b></span></strong> You’ve truly wounded me this time… Babe…. I’ll never recover… this is the end…</p><p><strong><span class="u"><b>Me:</b></span></strong> Good</p><p>Chikara was too busy laughing at Futakuchi’s affronted expression to bother reading his next message.</p><p><strong><span class="u"><b>Futakuchi (?)</b></span></strong><strong><span class="u"><b> from Datekou:</b></span></strong> BABE</p><p>Chikara snorted as Futakuchi’s expression shifted from one of offense to one of sadness and he began attempting to pout at him from across the gym. He was too busy laughing at Futakuchi to notice Tanaka leaning over and reading the message on his phone. By the time Chikara had gotten over Futakuchi’s pouting, Tanaka had already leaned away with an odd expression on his face. Chikara  leaned over to point out how funny Futakuchi’s expression was. If there was someone that anyone could laugh at, it was Futakuchi. Chikara ignored the voice in his head that pointed out he also just wants to hear Tanaka laugh. </p><p>Except, instead of leaning in like he usually would, Tanaka instead leans further away and looks a little uncomfortable at the close proximity. Chikara turns to look at him, was something wrong? Tanaka had never really seemed to care about people getting into his personal space, if anything, he was usually the one getting in <em>Chikara</em>’<em>s</em> personal space.</p><p>“Tanaka, is there something wro-”</p><p>“Don’t worry about it Ennoshita!” Tanaka cuts him off quickly, still not quite looking at Chikara.</p><p>Chikara’s nose scrunched at the use of his last name. Tanaka had been calling him Chikara since their second year, what was going on?</p><p>“Tanaka, what’s wrong-” Chikara was once again interrupted, this time by the sound of the whistle, the game below them picking up again.</p><p>Chikara sat back with a huff, he hadn’t been paying too much attention to it, but he knew Tanaka would ignore anything not volleyball related now. Added onto the fact they had another game soon, might as well wait until after to ask about it. Wait and hope it wouldn’t affect their dynamic on the court.</p><p>
  <em>Would Daichi wait? </em>
</p><p>No. No thinking about Daichi, Kinoshita and Narita had forced that out of him, with their passive aggressive comments and texts, and what Kinoshita defined as “friendly” punches. Ennoshita winced at the thought of them. No comparing himself to Daichi! He just had to have confidence in his decision and not doubt himself. Everything would be fine.</p><p>Hopefully.</p><p>Chikara focuses on the game as a cheer rises from Wakutani South’s cheering section. It no longer had the entirety of the captain’s family from last year, but still it seemed their volleyball team had grown a bit in popularity. Wakutani had just pulled ahead and the score was now 16-14 for them. Chikara needed to pay attention, they would have to leave soon for their own game but it would be good to see how this game would start. If all went well, Karasuno would be playing one of them later.</p><p>After a few deep breaths Chikara was completely focused on the game. He was interested in seeing how Wakutani would do without their own little giant from last year, and with the loss of their third years. He had heard good things about their new ace, and by how annoyed Yahaba was starting to look, it seemed they were true. Wakutani cheered again as their ace scored another point, the ball landing right in front of Kyoutani. Chikara winced as he watched Kyoutani glare at Wakutani’s ace. Yahaba had been texting him basically every day about his developments with Kyoutani, whether in the group chat or individually messaging him. It seemed that Yahaba had been pretty sure that Kyoutani could control himself when it counted, but based on how often Wakutani was targeting him, Chikara wasn’t quite sure if he’d be able to resist responding.</p><p>As the game progressed, Kyoutani and Wakutani’s ace developed a back and forth that even Futakuchi seemed invested in. It seemed Seijoh had begun to get into the swing of things, and began scoring point after point, leaving Wakutani stuck at 17. After a particularly nice shut down of Wakutani’s ace by Kyoutani, even Chikara found himself cheering, though he would never admit it. He didn’t play favorites, but it was hard not to cheer for someone you’ve gotten daily updates on for what was probably the past two months.</p><p>At some point during the game Johzenji had walked in, with Terushima immediately running to get a seat by Chikara to properly annoy him for everything that had happened, and also to inform him their court would probably be ready soon. And of course, that Johzenji had won. Chikara tries not to think about the upcoming game against them.</p><p>
  <em>Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.</em>
</p><p>Right, if their court would be ready soon he needed to start getting into game mode and make sure everyone was around so they could get straight into warm up. If they even wanted a chance to play Johzenji, then they needed to get past their next opponent first. <em>Focus on the opponent ahead of you</em>.</p><p>As he begins to do a headcount he's suddenly startled by half the audience screaming. Chikara turns around to see the ball rolling on Wakutani’s side of the court, their ace’s eyes wide, and the entire Seijoh team attacking Kyoutani. Chikara looks around, trying to find out why everyone had screamed. The score read 20-25 for Seijoh, and the thrill of bagging the first set was obviously riling up the entire team.</p><p>“HE DID THE PARALLEL RUN UP THAT BASTARD,” Tanaka yells, words angry, but a smile on his face, and Chikara could understand why. Pulling off the run up and winning the first set? It must’ve been an amazing feeling, especially considering how pushy Wakutani’s new ace had been. Chikara glances down at the court and tries to fight down the smile he feels forming at the fond look Yahaba was giving Kyoutani. It seemed they really had worked things out.</p><p>Before Chikara can think of the proper way to tease Yahaba for this, Kyoutani escapes the clutches of his teammates and runs to the edge of the court, drawing the crowd's attention. He cups his hands around his mouth as the cheering sections chants slowly morph from ‘<em>Kentarou</em>’ to<em> ‘Mad Dog’</em>, and lets out a howl that echoes throughout the entire gym.</p><p>Chikara feels his eyes widen and makes eye contact with Futakuchi, who looks less shocked and more amused, his eyebrows raised as the howl dies out. Chikara was ready for the ref to yell at Kyoutani for being so loud, or blow the whistle to gain some order again, but instead, to the surprise of the rest of the gym, the Seijoh cheering section responds.</p><p>If Chikara had thought Kyoutani had been loud, he was nothing compared to the entire Seijoh cheering section howling in unison, and he feels his mouth drop open with shock. He can see people from around the gym looking over to Seijoh’s court, probably wondering what the fuck just happened. Even Tanaka had stopped his pouting and watched the court as Seijoh continued to celebrate. Chikara was pretty sure he heard Terushima murmur, ‘<em>that was so fucking cool</em>’ and didn’t even have the mind to scold him for it.</p><p><em>Shit</em>, Chikara thinks as he stares at Kyoutani and his literal horde of cheering fans, <em>He’s really settled in. </em></p><p>This tournament was going to be an interesting one.</p><p>Across the court even Aone looked surprised by the noise, and Chikara could see one of the Dateko members covering their ears and wincing. Chikara felt bad for them but it seemed everyone else was too busy trying to process what on <em>earth </em>the Aoba Josai cheering section had just done.</p><p>The ref looked unphased by this, and Chikara briefly wonders if she had already seen them do this. Seijoh had already begun to calm down, and Wakutani had gotten over the shock of Kyoutani’s parallel run up, looking more annoyed than anything at this point. Their ace’s face had become troubled, and Chikara couldn’t help but feel a little bad for him. He was a second year ace, a title that already held so much pressure, going up against a third year powerhouse like Kyoutani couldn’t have been easy.</p><p>Chikara settled back into his seat, the ref had already brought the whistle to her lips so the players could settle properly. He might as well try to watch whatever he could, and since Ukai hadn’t <em>officially </em>announced they were going to go warm up yet, he could watch them finish up this break.</p><p>It seemed Kyoutani had other plans.</p><p>Instead of going back to his coach like the others had begun to, Kyoutani ran over to Yahaba, who seemed just as confused as everyone watching. Kyoutani then proceeds to throw his arms around Yahaba, pick him up, spin him around, and in what would become the first page of every local newspaper’s sports section for the next two weeks, kisses him.</p><p>Chikara felt the world as he knew it end.</p><p>It felt like the simplest thing in the world, Kyoutani kissed Yahaba and then the world began to end.</p><p>Futakuchi’s mouth falls completely open, Seijoh’s libero makes a sound that Ennoshita wasn’t sure humans were supposed to make, Hinata squeaks, Yamaguchi chokes on his water, Ukai chokes on the snack he had been eating, and even Tsukishima seems shocked by Kyoutani’s boldness. Kageyama is the only member, and maybe the only person watching, who is completely unaffected by this development.</p><p>This was Yahaba. The same Yahaba that had tried to hide his pining under paragraph after paragraph of explanations about why Kyoutani was DEFINITELY STILL BAD, but maybe not as bad as he originally thought? Who had texted Chikara every. Single. Day. About Kyoutani for the past two months. Who had lamented time after time about how much he just wanted to hold Kyoutani and tell him every good thing that everyone else missed, and also tackle him into the ground and beat him up for being annoying. Acting like Kyoutani didn’t look at him like he had the ability to tear the world apart and put it back together again. Like Kyoutani hadn’t found a way to take all the fear out of that look and instead pack it full of respect, and excitement, and <em>love</em>.</p><p>What Chikara was trying to say was that Yahaba was a <em>mess</em><em>,</em> and now Chikara has to know Yahaba is a mess with a <em>boyfriend???</em></p><p>Then Terushima breaks the silence,</p><p>“I KNEW IT,” he screams, then stands up and points straight at Futakuchi, “YOU OWE ME 2000 YEN!”</p><p>This seemed to be the opening of the floodgates, as everyone in the audience immediately started talking and murmuring to each other. Cameras flashing and the cameraman zooming in on Kyoutani, who currently had Yahaba hiding his face in his chest, ears so red that Chikara could see them from the stands.</p><p>Futakuchi stands up as well, ignoring Terushima’s yell and points straight at Yahaba.</p><p>“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU! WE’RE SUPPOSED TO BE FRIENDS AND YOU DIDN’T EVEN TELL US YOU HAD A BOYFRIEND? YOU B-”</p><p>Aone covers his mouth and pulls him back into his seat before he can continue, having the good grace to at least look mildly embarrassed. Futakuchi continues to struggle a bit, then just settles for pointing at Yahaba and making various gestures Chikara didn’t have the patience to decipher.</p><p>Still, the cherry on top was his phone vibrating, and Terushima’s phone vibrating, and Futakuchi was across the gym but Chikara had good money on the fact that his phone also vibrated. As Chikara checkes his phone only one thing appeared on the screen, a notification from the captain chat, with a message from Shirabu that just reads:</p><p><strong><span class="u"><b>Unfortunately, Shirabu:</b></span></strong> Yahaba was first assholes. You all owe me 1500 yen.</p><p>Then, because Shirabu was classy, </p><p><strong><span class="u"><b>Unfortunately, Shirabu:</b></span></strong> Fuck all of you btw.</p><p>And if Chikara had to pinpoint a moment he personally started to lose it, it was probably that text message. Terushima groans behind him, probably mourning the loss of the majority of the 2000 he was pulling from Futakuchi. But Chikara just stares at his phone in awe. Shiratorizawa was <em>in a match</em>. Shirabu wasn’t just their captain, but also their setter, Chikara hadn’t even been able to really see their match. Shirabu should have <em>still been playing??? </em>He couldn’t process this.</p><p>Later Chikara would blame his future actions on the adrenaline and the fact that all the <em>other </em>captains had been doing it and he’d just gotten excited. Narita would respond to this excuse by asking him <em>if all the other captains were jumping off a cliff would you? </em>Only to scold him when Chikara’s immediate answer was, “Yes.” But Narita wouldn’t be able to stop him this time, because this was when everything starts to connect in Chikara’s mind. Yahaba had called him at four in the morning. Yahaba is, on a good day, unnecessarily violent towards anyone who talks to him before six. Instead, when Yahaba had called, he had sounded happy, something Chikara hadn’t noticed because it had been <em>four in the morning.</em> There was also no way Yahaba had been dating Kyoutani for long. Chikara had gotten his daily Pining text from him at 8 o'clock sharp last night. Even Yahaba wasn't sadistic enough to keep those going if he was already dating Kyoutani. Chikara stares at them, sill basically cuddling on the court, Yahaba had awoken Chikara from his precious sleep, the <em>day of a tournament,</em> for this.</p><p>And he hadn’t even told him during the call.</p><p>There is a general disclaimer about Chikara, that all who are close to him have a general understanding of, whether from experience or from being told. When he feels very angry, happy, annoyed, or really very much of any emotion, he cannot take responsibility of what his hands do. Chikara’s hands have a checkered past, having landed him in his room, the counseling office, and on one very memorable occasion, mall jail. It is not as big of an issue as it seems, as on most days Chikara does not find himself very notably angry, or happy. Even his teammates have failed to make him overly angry, instead simply bearing witness to the few times that something had pushed Chikara over the edge in front of them.</p><p>This was one of those times. Later Chikara will admit this was dramatic, and that really, it wasn’t solely Yahaba’s fault, and that he <em>might</em> have blamed him for things that weren’t necessarily his fault. It was a combination of his lack of sleep, stress from volleyball, and school that really did him in.</p><p>But this was now, and the only thing going through Chikara’s mind now was that Yahaba was a bastard who had woken him up at four, had left him alone with Futakuchi and Terushima, put him 1500 yen in debt to Shirabu, and who now had a boyfriend while Chikara was still pathetically pining. Chikara was done with the continuous lack of solidarity today.</p><p>Another important note, that Chikara felt should be mentioned if only to justify his thought process, was that there was a reason he’d had a mandarin as his pre-game snack. After a particularly unfortunate day at Seijoh, where they’d almost gotten kicked off campus because Hinata and Kageyama had started a food fight during a break for a practice match; Ukai had banned onigiri and meat buns at practice games and real games. It had been a tragedy they all felt deeply, none more so than Hinata and Kageyama themselves, their monster attitudes only matched by their monster appetites. But it was a necessary evil, and Chikara had found an easy replacement in Mandarins. They lacked the protein, but were light enough not to bother him, and tasty enough to satisfy him.</p><p>So, when Chikara finally stands to yell, “YOU WOKE ME UP FOR <em>THIS?</em>” and also, “THEN DIDN’T EVEN TELL ME???”, and perhaps also a few choice insults he will not repeat here, he does not notice when he throws his hands behind him in anger. Nor does he remember about the mandarin he had in his hands when he clenches his fists in anger.</p><p>So when Chikara notices that his hand felt really gross, he is brought to his sad reality by the image of his crushed snack. As if to twist the knife, Chikara realizes that he was also oddly dry, the majority of the mandarin guts avoiding him. Instead, he had managed to soak the person sitting behind him.</p><p>Coach Ukai.</p><p>Chikara blinks at him. Ukai blinks back, frozen in place.</p><p><em>Oh my god, </em>Chikara thinks staring at Ukai, the Seijoh cheering section's yells now the sad soundtrack to his life, <em>They’re going to ban mandarins.</em></p><p>And then he runs.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>"How did you get your team to respect you?"<br/>"we played never have I ever and when someone said 'never have i ever gone to jail' i was the only one who put a finger down and i was never questioned again."</p><p>Futakuchi has Ennoshita in his phone as "wonderful lovely fellow captain loml chikara" and when he saw Ennoshita's contact for him he complained for a week straight.</p><p>Aone didn't stop futakuchi the first time bc it is canon that he is just as much of a troublemaker as Futakuchi and 9/10 thinks futakuchi makes a good point tbh.</p><p>Shirabu "all bets are jokes until I win them" Kenjirou remains an enigma.</p><p>Howling kyoutani inspired by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/7212137/chapters/16365437">No Date but what we Fake</a> Which you should all go read bc it rules!!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Squint. this was going to be all jokes and pokes and then my friend (hi maddy) was making me think sad ennotana thoughts and well, now this has unfortunately dipped below 90% jokes and pokes folks.  It was very sad but it had to happen. Still very much mostly jokes though! Hope you enjoy :D</p>
<p>also im sorry it took this long i told myself i'd update in a week and then when i thought five days had passed i checked the date and it had been two weeks so uh... oops?</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chikara tries to ignore the other kids sitting in the hallway as he runs, wishing he had just soaked himself. It would’ve served as his own punishment for letting himself get that angry over something in public. He would rather be the universe’s cat, getting the closest to what the universe could provide as a spray bottle for his actions. But no, he had to get his coach instead.</p>
<p><em>Damn it, </em>He thinks, trying to turn his run into a hopefully casual jog to avoid drawing any other gazes his way<em>. Stupid Yahaba. Stupid mandarins</em><em>. </em></p>
<p>He didn’t even know where he was going at this point, only trying to get as far away from the gym as possible. How on earth was he going to explain that? How does he explain why he got so annoyed without either a) sounding like a jerk or b) revealing the fact that instead of volleyball all the Miyagi captain group chat does is talk about how almost all of them had been left out to dry in terms of a love life. Neither option seems very appealing to him, and if he’s thinking about it, he’s pretty sure he would rather hide in the bathroom until the entire tournament was over than do either of those things.</p>
<p>He skids to a stop as he sees the bathroom, hopefully an adequate distance away to speed through what he’s sure is going to be at least a partial breakdown before he has to be on the court. He lets out a breath as someone leaves right as he walks in, doing a quick check to make sure the bathroom was empty before doing his best to casually collapse onto the sink.</p>
<p>He sighs as he grabs the edges of the sink, staring into the bowl in front of him. He had a tournament to get to damn it, he didn’t want to have to deal with this now. He had gotten better about not getting too into his head this year, the other third years doing their best to help him out of the habit. But no one was perfect, and Chikara is fairly sure he’s probably about to yell at this stupid sink in an empty bathroom in the middle of a tournament.</p>
<p>He glares at the sink in front of him, there’s nothing really wrong with it, but Chikara hates it, hates that he’s doing this. Stupid sink, probably had some kid spit in it earlier, there was probably someone’s chewed up gum stuck on it somewhere. But he was the one relying on it, so he was probably worse off. He grips the edges of it harder trying to think of something else to insult the sink with, it felt dumb but he knew getting his mind off of things would help. Thinking of something else (sink insults) would mean that he wouldn’t have to think about other things (literally every event that transpired in the past 15 minutes).</p>
<p>And he did <em>not</em> want to think about it. It was annoying to get so angry over something he knows he should be happy about. When it came down to it he did care about Yahaba and the other captains, and this was a great push in the right direction for all of them. They probably needed the kick to stop just complaining at each other and instead start to try and do something about everything they were complaining about. Yahaba did it, so the rest of them should probably do it too. Chikara has to stifle what was probably going to be a watery laugh at that, half of them would probably try and one up Yahaba just out of spite. Yet here was Chikara, staring into this stupid sink that didn’t even have the water on. Just an empty spit sink.</p>
<p>Chikara pushes off the sink and starts pacing because<em> ugh </em>he hates that he’s not out there heckling Yahaba like any good friend would. He doesn’t want to think about the fact that he’s been left pining while someone else got their act together, doesn’t want to think of bright smiles, and unnecessarily loud yells, and a mind strong enough Chikara’s sure he could never even make a dent in it. And that’s just it isn’t it, that Yahaba had finally gotten the boy he’d been dancing around for the past year and a half, and Chikara was sure that Tanaka was going to go on in life and forget him.</p>
<p>And Chikara knows Tanaka’s not going to actually forget him because he’s too nice for that, Tanaka valued all of them too much to forget them. He also knows that Tanaka doesn’t see him the way Chikara wishes he would, and that Chikara’s going to go down in Tanaka’s personal history as that one friend who was a weird captain for a bit, maybe yelled at them from time to time, and then graduated and lived a perfectly normal, boring, life. Chikara thinks about that and knows he’d rather be forgotten. It’s not fair that Chikara could get as close as he wanted, offer as many private study sessions, have as many dinners, as many walks home, and as many hugs, naps, cuddles, and hand holds as he wanted and it <em>still </em>wouldn’t change anything.</p>
<p><em>Ah damn</em>, he thinks, staring at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, <em>I didn’t want to think about it.</em></p>
<p>He takes in his appearance for a second before letting out a breath and walking back over to the sink to splash some water on his face. He was probably too sleep deprived to try thinking about this. His teachers had been demanding more and more since it was his last year, and he still had three assignments left from this week that he had been unable to finish yet. The bags under his eyes had made it obvious that he needed to try and balance his schedule more, and paired with the resigned look he has now he looks even sleepier than usual. He could already hear Coach Ukai yelling at him to take care of himself.</p>
<p>Well, Ukai probably had other things to yell at Chikara about first.</p>
<p>He glares at the sink as he turns on the tap, one for sink, zero for Chikara. He watches the water swirl down the drain for a second before running his hands through it. It was cold, and would hopefully put back in the right head space. He didn’t have time for, whatever this was. He had a tournament to win.</p>
<p>Right as he’s about to splash the water the door opens and Chikara jumps, narrowly avoiding getting his uniform wet. He quickly glances in the mirror to try and see who came in and feels a wave of exhaustion overcome as he sees a black Karasuno jacket an a shaved head. <em>Narita</em>. Narita could always tell when something was up, Chikara didn’t know he thought he’d be getting away this time. He lets his shoulders slump as he grabs some paper towels to try and dry the floor with, keeping his gaze down as he drops the paper towels onto the floor. It’s quiet, and Chikara just wants Narita to try and say something so they could get this over with.</p>
<p>He remains quiet as he picks up the paper towels and turns around to throw them away, keeping his gaze down the whole time. Narita still hasn’t said anything and Chikara wonders if this is just some new tactic to try and get him to open up with his feelings first. Force the feelings out of him or leave him to be suffocated by the tense silence. Chikara purses his lips, that would probably work under normal circumstances because Chikara hated weighted silence but now it was kind of annoying to think about. Chikara has to get back on the court, the team still has to go to warm up, if they haven’t already started, and Chikara should be there.</p>
<p>He hears Narita take a breath to speak and decides that he doesn’t want to hear it.</p>
<p>“I know what you’re going to say,” Chikara starts, watching the damp paper towels fall into the trash, “I shouldn’t keep things bottled up, I shouldn’t hide things from you guys, I should talk to you if there’s something bothering me.”</p>
<p>Narita stays quiet.</p>
<p>“You believe in me and I’m a great captain and you want me to be more open about my feelings,” Chikara continues, grabbing more paper towels. “I should just confess!” Chikara hears Narita take a sharp breath. “I am an upright person and anyone who doesn’t want to date me is missing out! And he’s a great guy, who cares about me a lot, and always is willing to see the best of a situation so even if he doesn’t like me back it’ll all be alright because he’s just nice like that!”</p>
<p>Narita tries to speak again, but Chikara isn’t done so he keeps going, “But that doesn’t matter! I’m not ready to say anything so I’m not going to! I have too many assignments to keep up with and I don’t know how Suga did practice, meetings after practice, and college prep for a whole year! But I’m working on it!” Chikara grabs another handful of paper towels, and turns around to finish cleaning up the mess and get to warm up, “So just because I’m ‘great’ and Tanaka is-”</p>
<p>And Chikara has an amazing comeback in him, about how he can’t always be told what he <em>should</em> do because he’s had parents, family, and teachers do that his whole life. How maybe he’d like to be told what he <em>could</em> do and take in some other options instead of being told that there was only one way to do things. He had been so ready to talk about his own personal limits and how sometimes he just wants someone to give him a pat on the back and a ‘good job’ and is that so much to ask for?</p>
<p>But instead he chokes on his own spit because standing there in the bathroom is most definitely not Narita. Chikara had gotten the jacket and shaved head right but oh it was not Narita.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was Tanaka.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>For a horrible second their eyes meet and Chikara can see the confusion in Tanaka’s face before he lets out a rough cough and heading over to the sink to try and get the ability to breathe back. Tanaka is standing stock still and all Chikara can think is that he <em>said his name. To him. To his face. There’s no way he doesn’t know now.</em> </p>
<p>When Chikara can finally breathe right again (and quickly thanks the sink for having his back), it seems Tanaka had already recovered and was hovering over him like he wanted to help but wasn’t sure how. Chikara holds up a hand as Tanaka tries to approach again, trying to gather his thoughts.</p>
<p>“Are you-”</p>
<p>“I’m fine!” Chikara interrupts, backing away from the sink, Tanaka’s hands still hovering like he wanted to rest them on Chikara to make sure he was alright.</p>
<p>“Okay.”</p>
<p>“Yup.”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Tanaka finishes, sticking his hands in his pockets and averting his gaze.</p>
<p>Chikara bites down on his lip as the silence weighs on him, this sucked. Every time he wants to look up and maybe catch Tanaka’s gaze, he’ll see Tanaka start to turn to look at him and will chicken out last second and turn away again. <em>I can’t handle this</em>. He can feel Tanaka’s gaze boring into him and he can still feel that undercurrent of anxiety about the fact that there was no way that warm up hadn’t started and Chikara was still across the gym. <em>Nothing could be worse than the silence</em>, he thinks to himself, staring at the floor now. <em>Please just say anything.</em></p>
<p>“So uh-” Tanaka begins, and Chikara takes it back, <em>shit</em>, he takes it back, this was a mistake. There was literally nothing that could be said that wouldn’t be horrible and Chikara wants the silence back <em>please </em>anything but having to talk about it now. “You like someone huh?” Tanaka finishes, obviously trying so hard to make it casual, like Chikara isn’t considering the benefits of attempting to burrow into the center of the earth.  </p>
<p>“I mean, you don’t have to tell me who it is if you don’t want to,” Tanaka continues while Chikara does his best to pretend like this wasn’t happening. <em>Was this his way of turning me down? </em>“But uh, I know you’ve had a lot on your plate so if you want to talk-” Tanaka keeps going but Chikara is thinking now.</p>
<p><em>What is he doing? Does he think this is easier than turning me down? </em>Tanaka was still talking, adding something about how he might not be able to help but maybe he could listen… And Chikara has to consider whether there was any way to confuse what he had said because it sounds like, Tanaka didn’t know? But that couldn’t be right, Chikara had said that he liked someone, described someone just like Tanaka, and then said his <em>name</em> to his <em>face</em>.</p>
<p>“Is this a joke?” Chikara gets out, because this had to be a joke of some kind?</p>
<p>But Tanaka’s face just twists in confusion, and he gives a wary “No..?” and oh he really doesn’t know does he?</p>
<p>“You don’t know who I like.” Chikara states, just to make sure, just in case.</p>
<p>“No.” Tanaka replies more confidently this time, only to jolt again, “wait did you tell me already!? And I just forgot?”</p>
<p>Tanaka starts apologizing, and Chikara doesn’t even hear half of it because now against all better judgement Chikara wants to tell him. He doesn’t like the way Tanaka looks right now, unsure, confidence nowhere to be found as he stares at the ground and tries to apologize for something he didn’t even do.</p>
<p>Whatever is left of the rational part of Chikara’s brain is telling him to wait a bit before confessing, because this was obviously impulsive and would have consequences later that he wasn’t even considering yet. The rest of Chikara’s brain is experience a wave of annoyance as he realizes that Tanaka’s underestimating himself right now. That he probably hadn’t even considered himself an option in this. <em>Where does someone as great as Tanaka get off underestimating himself? </em>He thinks, because really, Tanaka was wonderful in all the ways that counted. And the all the very impulsive parts of Chikara’s mind were telling him to put Tanaka in his place by proving him wrong, showing him why he shouldn’t underestimate himself.</p>
<p>Still, he should think about this before-</p>
<p>Tanaka unknowingly cuts off his train of thought, still apologizing and Chikara is just tuned in enough to hear, “I know I’m not that great at-” and Chikara throws all rational parts of his brain out the window.</p>
<p>“I like you.”</p>
<p>Tanaka stops talking.</p>
<p>Chikara stares at him, “I like you, because you’re wonderful, help support everyone on the team, and make sure I’m never in my own head too long to ruin things for myself. You remember everything I tell you about myself, don’t care that I can be scary when I want to be, and always do your best in everything.” And Chikara can feel his resolve waning and his face heating up because <em>Feelings are so embarrassing what the heck why is he saying this. </em>“I like you, so don’t underestimate yourself okay?”</p>
<p>With that Chikara delivers what might end up being the most awkward shoulder pat of his entire life, past, present, and future, and moves to leave the bathroom.</p>
<p>A hand grabs his jacket to stop him though, sliding down his arm to grab his hand. Chikara turns to see Tanaka staring at him with an odd intensity that Chikara’s never seen before. It doesn’t help that Tanaka’s face is also bright red.</p>
<p>“Me too.” Tanaka states simply, and Chikara’s pretty sure his brain stops working.</p>
<p>“What.”</p>
<p>Tanaka coughs, face losing some of the intensity and turning more into one of just embarrassment, “I uh. Me too.” He repeats, loosening his hold on Chikara’s hand.</p>
<p>Chikara tightens his grip, making sure Tanaka can’t drop it. “Like- you. You mean like, like-”</p>
<p>“Yeah.” Tanaka responds softly, now gripping Chikara’s hand back just as hard and looking him in the eye.</p>
<p>“Oh.” Chikara says, and yeah, there’s no way his brain is on right now.</p>
<p>Tanaka smiles at him, shifting his grip so they were properly holding hands, and Chikara’s face must be bright red right now. Chikara can feel his cheeks and ears burning, and it’s dumb because they’re just holding hands but all those warm fuzzy feelings are coming right up to the surface and Chikara wonders if this could kill you.</p>
<p>Tanaka must realize something’s up because he loosens his grip a bit and starts to ask, “Do you want me to let g-”</p>
<p>“Don’t you dare let go,” Chikara interrupts, even if admitting it makes him feel even more embarrassed.</p>
<p>Tanaka smiles again at that, and sidles right up next to Chikara as they walk towards the door, grip firm. Chikara needs to calm down or there won’t be a point to warm up because there’s no way he’ll be able to get his mind off of this.</p>
<p>“Um,” Tanaka stops them right before they reach the door, his free hand going to rub the back of his neck. “Can I kiss you?”</p>
<p>Chikara isn’t sure if it’s possible but he knows there’s no way his face didn’t just get more red at that. He wants to say yes. He wants to say yes <em>so badly </em>he’s pretty sure he might be vibrating with it.</p>
<p>Unfortunately the rational part of his brain  is working again now, and reminds him that he still has a game to play. He knows if he kisses Tanaka now he’ll probably get distracted for the rest of the week, he’d be screwed for the game. He sighs, his mind couldn’t have stayed shut off for another minute?</p>
<p>“How about this,” Chikara begins leaning closer, “We win this game and then you can ask me again. That sound good?”</p>
<p>Tanaka nods enthusiastically, blush high on his cheeks. Chikara laughs a bit at that as he opens the door to leave because there’s no way they aren’t late. Tanaka follows him, staring at their interlocked hands now.</p>
<p>“You know, I totally thought you were dating Futakuchi,” Tanaka admits, swinging their hands as they walk down the admittedly emptier halls.</p>
<p>Chikara snorts, “Futakuchi? Really?”</p>
<p>“Hey! He flirts with you all the time! He literally called you babe Today! What else was I supposed to think?”</p>
<p>Chikara chuckles, if just to rile Tanaka up more, “Awww, Tanaka were you jealous?”</p>
<p>Tanaka looks away, “Nevermind! Forget it!” Chikara laughs again, feeling Tanaka squeeze his hand again. This was nice.</p>
<p>“If it makes you feel better there’s no way Futakuchi would date me,” Chikara offers as they reach the end of the hall.</p>
<p>“Really?” Tanaka asks, “You guys seem pretty close.”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Chikara chuckles as they reach the corner, “He has the BIGGEST crush on Aone, and has been nursing it since like, their first year. He’d never go after me without at least trying to ask Aone out.”</p>
<p>Tanaka is about to respond but is stopped as they turn the corner and come face to face with Aone and Futakuchi. <em>Oh shit. </em></p>
<p>“Oh,” Chikara breathes out hoping they didn’t hear him, “Uh, speak of the devil huh?”</p>
<p>Futakuchi’s face looks horrified and yeah there’s no way they both didn’t just hear Chikara reveal Futakuchi’s feelings for Aone.</p>
<p>“Ennoshita you-” Futakuchi growls out, and oh Chikara’s in trouble isn’t he.</p>
<p>Aone stops everything by throwing an arm over Futakuchi’s shoulders and dragging him down the way Tanaka and Chikara just came. He briefly pauses and looks over to them, Futakuchi in too much shock to do anything but stand there.</p>
<p>“You guys are late to warm up,” Aone states simply, “You’re on Court C.”</p>
<p>And then he continues leading Futakuchi down the hall.</p>
<p>“Should we be worried about that,” Chikara murmurs.</p>
<p>“Nah,” Tanaka replies, starting to walk again, “Aone likes him back, they’ll be alright.”</p>
<p><em>Sweet, </em>Chikara thinks, <em>A good day for the Miyagi Captains huh. </em></p>
<p>“Wait, how do you know that?”</p>
<p>“Oh a bunch of the vice captains have a chat where we talk and stuff,” Tanaka replies casually, Chikara wants to laugh at that image.</p>
<p>“Really?” He asks, he doesn’t think he can even imagine Tanaka, Kyoutani, Aone, and Kawanishi doing anything together. Let alone talking casually enough that Tanaka knows that Aone likes Futakuchi.</p>
<p>“Yeah, you would not <em>believe</em> how much Kyoutani talks about Yahaba. It’s a little ridiculous.”</p>
<p>Chikara does laugh at that, thinking about the daily messages he used to get, “Oh I’m sure I have a pretty good idea.”</p>
<p>He sighs as the reach the entrance to the gym again, “Well, Tanaka, it looks like we have a game to win.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I’ve heard this one’s got a great prize for winning,” Tanaka adds cheekily, waggling his eyebrows.</p>
<p>Chikara tries his best to kill the smile he feels rising, “Yeah, but guess you’ll have to win first before finding out just how great that prize is.”</p>
<p>Tanaka squeezes his hand one more time before letting go, “I’m absolutely going to pull a Kyoutani if we win,” he says quickly, before slipping into the gym.</p>
<p>“Wha- Hey!” Chikara chases after him, smile finally winning and coming out in full force, “We are NOT doing that Tanaka!” He calls. He hears Tanaka laugh, and his smile grows wider.</p>
<p>They were definitely winning this game.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Ennoshita doesn't call him Ryuu because the one time he did he was like "I feel like Noya" and Tanaka was like "You sound like my sister" and they decided both of those things were bad handshake emoji.<br/>Ennoshita thinks Yahaba is done sending him daily texts abt Kyoutani but he's wrong. Now Yahaba just sends "I love my boyfriend" texts with pics of kyoutani and ennoshita has not known peace-<br/>Narita when he wasn't the one in the bathroom: This is Narita erasure<br/>Tanaka: takes ennoshita on what is 100% supposed to be a date, buys him his favorite foods, opens the door for him and holds his hand, has private study sessions where they just talk to each other about their lives and cuddle and watch movies together<br/>Ennoshita, before getting the confession: :( tanaka doesn't even like me that much :( doesn't even pay that much attention to me :(</p>
<p>also if you're ever bored yall should watch the Mandarins 2019 show "SubTerra" bc it's cool and a bunch of my friends were in it and drum corps deserves more recognition. Here's a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS2sSLR9jFM">clip</a> but y'all should watch the whole thing if u can find it bc the part where the guard bungees off the prop upside down always gives me a heart attack and i love it</p>
<p>also it's uhhh very late so if u see a mistake,,,,,,, will probably be fixed later,,,</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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